Gen. T Spotlight

Grabbing up a spot in Asia Tatler’s Generation T list 2017 is Kim Teck Cheong Consolidated’s executive director—a thirdgeneration leader who strives to take the company further under his wings

The visionary executive director of Kim Teck Cheong Consolidated keeps pushing the boundaries to expand his family business

Keeping up with the family’s legacy, Dexter Lau has already had his mind set on expanding the family business locally and in Brunei. Founded by his late grandfather, Datuk Lau Yeong Ching, it is now East Malaysia’s largest consumer packed goods distributor and a public listed company that started out as a mini retail business in Sabah. Today, the driven successor is breaking barriers by restructuring the company to keep its blood pumping and remain sustainable.

Everything comes in a package.

I had the privilege to be exposed to many disciplines and many departments of a business at an early stage. Thus I was able to try out different aspects of the business and develop my skills at a faster rate. But these perks don’t come easy. Working for a family business, you need to put your heart into building it as a whole, whereas in a traditional working environment, there are systems in place, all ready for you. When dealing with your own business, you need to establish processes, policies and governance that will help organise the company. Forging out your organisation’s identity and modus operandi is a key challenge for each and every business owner who wants to create a lasting company culture.

Modernisation is just a matter of making yourself more efficient. It has got nothing to do with making the company more glamorous. Efficiency then leads to effectiveness, which would affect the ability to adapt to your business surroundings. The values set by my grandfather and father will never go out of fashion, in my opinion.

Integrity, trust, honesty, respect —these are the key values and principles that I’ve picked up from my predecessors and I know that it is my duty to pass them on to the next generation. Whether the next generation will use whatever I have built today is immaterial, as they will further use the values I have imparted to establish their own vision of the company, fine-tune them and decide policies that will best suit the environment of tomorrow. Don’t put too much hope on the future. It may be common to think of passing your business on to an heir when creating your own business, but don’t get too caught up in it. Focus on the present. You should always build something for yourself first before thinking too far ahead.

Encourage yourself to reach for the stars. Challenge the status quo so that you continuously build your capabilities, your network and even the way you think. That way, you can actually pass on these lessons to the next generation. I think this is even more important than passing on a business to your children.